Recording Rhapsody
by ScreamScarlett
Summary: That which has happened before will always repeat itself until repentance is repaid.
1. caught

**Scream's Notes: **Hi, ScreamScarlett here. As you obviously know by now, this story is going through a little updating because of bad grammar and the story was just simply drifting out a little too far from my liking. Anyway, with all that's going on in Bleach, I wanted to add something new in this story's element. For those of you new to this, sit back and enjoy if you're into reading stories led by original characters. Thank you and remember to review after reading!

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_**got you**_

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In a small yet spacey clinic, the sun began to reach past the blinds and curtains on the front side of the building. Karakura Town was a sort of rough place to be in with all the violence and no-good hooligans hanging around, so it was a code of honor did this little clinic go by to help treat the wounded and unfortunate.

Such was the life the owners of said clinic chose to follow through. Even with the rough patches, the troublesome patients that were stubborn, and the drama the usually unfolded now and the... they still stuck to each other. Whatever sticky mess they met themselves with they always found a way out of it. The sun began to rise higher and higher with each passing minute, illuminating the sleepy town as the orange-tinted sky grew brighter. Hints of blue coming to sweep overhead as a sign to begin the new day.

Meanwhile, inside another part of the clinic, a sleeping individual with odd-colored hair that blended with the sunlight, continued to dream in peaceful bliss...

Well, what had been a peaceful bliss at first.

"TIME TO WAKE UP MY GOOD-FOR-NOTHING SON!"

Kurosaki Isshin forced his way through the door, his legs shooting straight for his sleeping target that he knew had no time to counter-attack his—

_**THUMP!**_

The older man blinked as his legs dangled awkwardly in the air, his shoulder blades connected to the wooden floor and his brain slowly catching on that his face was going to swell. Sitting on the bed, and completely unharmed from Isshin's attempted kick, the youth with groggy eyes glared down at the fallen doctor. A slow awakening came to his amber-colored hues, and the infamous scowl on his face told the older man the boy was not at all amused with his father's unique morning greeting.

What kind of father woke up early in the morning with every intention of barging in his son's room and causing bodily harm? Apparently, Kuroko Isshin was that kind of man.

"It's seven in the morning, and it's Saturday." the teen growled lowly.

"Good job, son! You're reflexes are superb as ever!" Isshin congratulated the boy with much enthusiasm.

"It's seven in the morning. And it's Saturday." the teen repeated.

"Daddy's so proud! That's the kind of man a Kurosaki breeds from his loins—" Isshin continued on, oblivious.

"_It's seven in the morning_. On a Saturday." there was no mistake of the venom coming through the boy's tone.

"Why yes, and what a lovely forecast we have this morning!" Isshin laughed out broadly, not at all bothered by the heavy and dangerous atmosphere surrounding him

"Get out."

"Huh?"

"GET OUT!"

Having enough of his silly antics, the teen drew up from his bed while grabbing for his father's legs, and he proceeded to drag the man out of his room. Isshin put up a good struggle, whining and shouting at the back of the orange-haired boy's head about the domestic abuse, but he was promptly ignored.

"Shut up, and get your ass out of my room!" the youth snapped once Isshin got to his feet.

He was quickly met with a headbutt. "NO CURSING IN THIS HOUSE, YOU FOUL-MOUTHED DELINQUENT!"

"FINE!" the boy growled as he recovered from the surprise attack and locked his father's arm painfully against his back. "I don't give a _HOOT_ about your ways of teaching me! Just leave me alone, and get the heck out of my room!"

"Ichi-nii!"

Both Kurosaki men paused in their struggle and looked towards the entrance of the bedroom. Standing at the doorway was a little miniature version of the orange-haired boy, his chocolate-colored eyes wide and innocent, and his hair was illuminated by the sun that was already blaring through the windows of the room. The little boy gave them a frown from the sight of the two of older Kurosaki's fighting each other, but eventually that kid was going to learn a valuable lesson; Kurosaki men don't hug, they _punch_.

"'Morning, Ichigo." the orange-haired teen greeted the younger boy.

Ichigo was in that stage of innocence, and the elder sibling felt sort of bad about leaving the boy behind to deal with their dad, especially when Ichigo got older. Another lesson in the clinic was once Ichigo came of age, the boy was going to have to learn how to sleep with one eye open. Their father starting any "dynamic entries" would save the little kid a lot of trouble.

"Breakfast is ready!" Ichigo announced, instantly forgetting the fight between his brother and father, before dashing off in the hallway.

"Ugh," Kurosaki Ichigo, nineteen years old and a junior in college, let out a groan before he was dragged out of his room by Isshin.

Karin and Yuzu were escorted down the stairs by an excited Ichigo, it only took a moment to find out why when Ichigeki reached the kitchen.

"Ready for karate practice, Ichigo?" Masaki, their mother, asked as she came in with breakfast.

The smell instantly made Ichigeki's mouth begin to water and arouse his senses. Now fully awake, the teen joined the rest of everyone at the table (not before helping the little's one to their own seats).

"Pancakes..." the older boy reached for the huge stack placed in the middle of the table. But his searching hand was met with a slap. "Ow! What the—"

"Fool!" Isshin cried out in outrage while pointing a deadly fork in Ichigeki's direction. "Do you not know that the man with the pants in this family is the first to take a bite?!"

"This isn't a hierarchy, dad!" the teen snapped at his father. "This is breakfast! You wake me up and force me out of my room, at least have the courtesy to let me eat in peace!"

"In this house my word is law!"

"Your laws have become void since day one!"

The rest of the family watched the banter between father and eldest, each of the four picking at the stack of pancakes without the worry of being caught. Ichigeki and Isshin were too into the argument to realize that their breakfast was slowly disappearing off the plate. This was a normal routine in the clinic home of the Kurosaki family.

"Shut up and let me eat, old man!" Ichigeki snarled with finality before stabbing his fork on a pancake and bringing it to his plate. "I can't wait for tomorrow!"

Hearing the sound of a utensil harshly connecting with a porcelain plate, everyone looked up to see Ichigo staring down at his plate before hurrying off his chair and out of the kitchen table. Surprised, and feeling a little guilty, Ichigeki watched his little brother flee from the room.

"Geki..." Masaki sighed as she gave her son an unimpressed look.

"You idiot," Isshin, for once, calmly said. "You know we don't get to see often, so of course you have to go and say that."

Without a word, Ichigeki let his head thunk against the wooden table. Currently, he was on a break from school to visit him family. The reason they didn't see each other more often was that the college was somewhat far, and in order to attend without the high price of being outside the jurisdiction, Ichigeki had been living in the dorms.

"Sorry."

"Tell that to Ichigo, you ungrateful whelp!"

After breakfast, Ichigeki headed up towards Ichigo's room. The older teen gave a small knock before entering. Ichigo was sitting on his bed with a bright red, white, and blue basketball in his skinny arms, and he was staring out the window with glazed eyes and a frown on his face. It was sort of cute how he would try and imitate his elder brother.

"Hey," the teen announced his presence in the room. "What's up, little man."

Ichigo stubbornly refused to say anything, and he turned his body away to accent his feelings.

"Alright Ichigo," the teen sighed heavily as he came closer to the bed. "You leave me no choice."

Without warning, Ichigo let out a shriek when ten digits dug into his side. The little orange-haired boy tried to flee from the tickle attack but it was fruitless against the force of his older brother. Still, the little boy tried to escape as he laughed, his hands pushing and his feet kicking against Ichigeki.

"Ichi-nii~!" Ichigo squealed as he gasped.

From the doorway, Masaki watched her sons as the elder finally ceased and was met with pitiful attacks by the younger. There was angry outbursts and blind lashing every now and then inside the Kurosaki Clinic, but those situations never lasted too long; in the end, everyone was smiling.

**..::Later::..**

"How did that woman ever sweet talk me into doing this...?"

Ichigeki walked along the streets of his town as he stared down at the card littered with written messages sent to him by his many associates and friends. It had become a sort of tradition since he had first started attending college, everyone gathering to say their goodbyes as they went their separate ways. It was a bit sad that everyone was no longer a little kid and they were now young adults with their lives ahead of them... so, someone came up with idea to have everyone write messages in cards to one another.

While reluctant, the teen knew this was very important for everyone else. So, he wrote his own little messages (nothing too grand or clingy) while he got his own card signed by the others. Recently, however, they had become very creative when they wrote their own goodbyes.

_**Introduce me to some of the hott chicks on campus!**_

_~ Shou Jinpei_

_'Hah. That's all you ever think about. Nothing but girls, girls, and more girls! What a perv.'_

_**Always remember to study hard. Basketball scholarship can only take you so far.**_

_~ Maro Akira_

_'You little shit! I'm not an idiot!'_

_**Bring honor to Karakura and her team!**_

_~ Karakura Basketball team._

_'Just because I played with you guys doesn't mean I'm gonna keep playing that stupid sport!'_

_**I hope they kick your dandelion-ass out of college! LOL!**_

_~ Danno Jomei_

_'Well, fuck you, too!'_

_**Wish you the best of luck, kick ass!**_

_~ Haruhara Emihana_

_'Ah, finally! A nice goodbye... Hey, what's this?'_

_**ps. remember to have a rape whistle with you at all times. ;p**_

_'Fuck you, fuck your gang, and fuck your cow...!'_

_**Remember to write back to us every now and then, or I will find you and stalk you! Yours truly~!**_

_~ Susumi Minako ;3_

_'…'_

_**Don't mess up.**_

_~ Yamaguchi Yoshua_

The message made him pause, so he was left standing in the middle of the sidewalk, staring down at the card in his hands. Yoshua, Ichigeki had learned long ago, was surely the most unpredictable person the orange-haired teen have ever known. And it left him wondering if that was a bad or good thing.

Looking at his wristwatch, Ichigeki read the time and knew it close to picking up Ichigo and Tatsuki from school. With that, the tangerine-head went off towards the direction of the elementary school the two kids attended. While crossing the street, the teen paused when he noticed a small band of wannabe gangsters loitering on the streets.

Ichigeki knew of his terrible temper and that it always led him to trouble, but he still went through the effort to avoid fights by the request of his parents (mostly from his mother). However, when he watched the small party stride on the streets like they owned it, he froze when one of the idiots purposefully kicked a small bottle full of flowers down the street.

His body suddenly moved with reflex.

Next thing those fools knew, they were on the ground or embedded against cement walls and sidewalks. Everyone was battered with blood and bruises, and their minds were too muddled and disoriented to figure out what had just happened to them.

"W-what the...?!" one of them gasped out while trying to recover from a harsh blow in the stomach. "What the fuck?"

"You there."

Blinking out the blurriness in his eyes, the idiot with the bleached hair looked up only to find himself whimpering in fear when he was on the receiving end of glowering amber eyes.

"Y-y-you! Y-you're th-that orange-haired guy who t-took out Mitsude-senpai from I-Ishiyama!" the small-fry stuttered as he stared up in both awe and horror. "Th-the One-Hit Killer, Kurosaki!"

"Tch, is that what those idiots came up with?" Ichigeki sneered down at the fallen body. "What a dumbass name!"

The idiot only squealed when Ichigeki stomped his foot down near his head.

"So, riddle me this, you little shit..." the teen pointed at the fallen bottle lying in the middle of the road. "Do you know what that is?"

"I-it's a bottle—"

"Wrong answer!"

_**Stomp!**_

The wannabe let out a shriek when his hand was squashed beneath the heels of the orange-haired teen's shoe. Letting out a cry of mercy, the crushing of his fingers ceased, and the boy continued to stare down at him with a dangerous gleam in his bright, unnatural eyes.

"_Do you know what that is?_" came the repeated, albeit forceful, question. "Look a little closer, moron."

Doing as he was told, for the sake of saving all five of his fingers, the battered brat peeked over towards the fallen bottle. Taking note of the spilled water and the scattered flowers, a slow realization hit him in the back of his head.

"I-it's a memorial!" he replied quickly so not to waste the looming teen's time.

"Good answer!" came the mock cheer before the idiot found his hoodie forced up and staring eye-to-eye with the most fearful guy known in all of Karakura Town's school districts. "Now tell me...

"Why is that memorial lying around there when it should be standing up?"

Vaguely, the wannabe would have asked why the older teen even cared about stupid, small stuff like turned over memorials, but the insidious look on the infamous boy's face told the small-fry to tread lightly. Swallowing heavily, the wannabe replied.

"Because... w-we weren't caring much about where we was w-walking...?"

"Ah." came Ichigeki's reply.

A second later, the wannabe let out a horrid scream before it was quickly silenced.

Ichigeki stood in the middle of the wreckage of groaning teens that slowly picked themselves, and their comrades, up from the floor. Seeing who they were dealing with, they all ran away with their tails between their legs, never to be seen or heard of again.

"Thank you!"

A little startled, Ichigeki turned to face a little girl in pigtails.

"No problem, kiddo." the older teen told the girl before crouching to the floor to pick up the flowers and gather them inside the fallen bottle. "It's the least I could do."

"Those guys looked pretty tough," she went on to say as she watched Ichigeki fix the little memorial against its original spot near the electric pole. "But you... Wow, you really showed them! It was so cool!"

Allowing a small laugh to escape, Ichigeki stood straight and big the girl goodbye before turning away to continue his way towards the elementary school.

Nearby, an old woman watched with raised brows as she spotted a young man with strange orange hair wave at someone. Curious, and a little too nosy for own good (or so her husband said), she peeked around the corner—

And found no one standing there.

**..::Later::..**

"I'm so gonna kick your butt this time, Suki!"

"You wish, Berry-Boy!"

While the two kids argued over who was sure to win for today's match at the local Dojo, Ichigeki stayed a little back while watching them with an amused smile. Tatsuki was a little spit-fire, and she was so bold that she even once tried to challenge Ichigeki; of course Ichigo went on to defend his older brother's honor by challenging the black-haired girl to a duel. It resulted in a quick match and Misaki kissing boo-boo's. Poor kid, even after he welcomed his mother's embrace and comfort, Ichigo felt humiliated to be defeated in such a short time... and in front of his brother no less!

Determined as ever, Ichigo vowed to defeat Tatsuki with all his might and finally gain back what ever honor was left of him.

Seriously, the whole thing sounded a bit suspiciously like Isshin, and Ichigeki had yet to determine whether or not their father was involved in this little fiasco.

"Calm down, you two." the eldest Kurosaki child told the two children as he reached down and ruffled their spiky heads. "You got all the time in the world to beat each other up."

Tatsuki slapped his hand away and she turned her scowl up at the taller boy. "Just you wait, I'm gonna make you blush a pretty pink after I beat you!"

"I told you!" Ichigo snapped at his friend vehemently as he stood between her and his brother. "Ichi-nii is the strongest person alive, so you can't beat him!"

"We'll see!" the girl returned.

The two nearly lunged at each other but Ichigeki held them both by the scruff of their shirts, watching a bit helplessly as the kids struggled in his grip in order to land a hit on the other. Thankfully, his troubles were erased the second his and Ichigo's mother came around the corner.

"There you are," Masaki greeted, and immediately Ichigo ceased all his struggles in order to eagerly greet his mother with a hug. "My little protector."

Tatsuki, who had finally calmed down after Ichigo took off, scoffed quietly from beside Ichigeki with her arms folded. "What a mama's boy."

"It just goes to show how awesome my mom is." the older teen remarked, and he didn't bother dodging the hit aimed on his thigh.

"Jerk!"

He continued to lead the violent nine-year-old to the Dojo, and Masaki took the opportunity to turn to her eldest.

"Did you get your card?" she asked. "I heard that Shisui had to go and get some signatures for you rather than you going in person to get them yourselves."

"Yeah, I met up with some of the guys, but everyone else was either too far off or there wasn't any time..."

"That's sad," Masaki frowned as she stared up at the taller boy. "Soon enough you're going to get messengers doing your dirty deeds."

"... You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"Geki!"

The teen avoided a smack delivered from his mother. "I was kidding!"

"Hey, how come you don't let her hit you?" Tatsuki demanded as she glared up at the towering teen leading her.

"Because," his mother decided to answer Tatsuki while raising a majestic fist in the air. "A mother's punch is her most powerful weapon to utilize, even if it's against her own son."

The two ginger-heads couldn't help but stop and stare at their mother.

"Oh, my God." Ichigeki murmured to himself, but everyone heard him. "Dad's been infecting you, too."

The woman only threw back her head and let out a loud laugh as she pulled Ichigo along with her, and it left Ichigeki standing in the middle of the sidewalk with a gobsmacked expression.

"You should close your mouth, or you'll catch flies." Tatsuki gave her small wisdom of advice.

"Shut up."

After recovering from that, they all arrived at the front entrance of the Dojo where every student was greeted by several teachers leading the establishment. Ichigeki looked on as he watched several of the older attendees pale at the sight of presence.

"My, my," Ichigeki blinked when an older man with sure signs of graying hair stood in front of him. "I haven't seen you around much, you little rascal."

"Oh, hey." the teen greeted lamely, but the Yamahise Yukio merely laughed.

"I've been taking in a lot of apprentices lately, you know. Most of them tell me they want to learn how to fight off a monstrous boy with bright hair running amok in the city."

Masaki came to stand beside her son with both hands on her hips, and she gave her son a look. "I wonder why."

"Why indeed." Yamahise agreed with a coy smile on his wrinkled face, and he turned towards the two youngest students tagging along with Masaki and his former apprentice. "Hello you two! You ready for today?"

"You betcha!" they both chimed with eager faces.

"That's the spirit!" Yamahise laughed as he patted their heads, he gave one last greeting to Masaki and a handshake to Ichigeki. "Good luck in your next semester."

"Thanks." the orange-haired boy said while the old man walked away to greet other parents and his students. "He got really old."

"Because you've been growing up faster than a weed." his mother playfully said. "Now, say goodbye to your brother."

Tomorrow was a long train ride back to the college dorms he had come from and there was only a slight chance that he would get to say goodbye to everyone when Ichigeki headed back. So, throughout the morning before he left home to meet up with Shisui, the teen spent what little amount of time he had with the twins, Ichigo, mom, and (begrudgingly) dad. Unless everyone decided to wake up around five o'clock in the morning, he was going to have to make do with today.

"Alright, little man," Ichigeki knelt down so that he was Ichigo's eye-level. "I'm gonna need you to be the man of the house because we obviously can't trust the old man to do his job..."

"That is your loving father you are speaking of, young man." Masaki warned lightly from behind them.

"Uh, right... So, since I'm going, I need you to do me a big favor." Ichigo stood in rapt attention.

"Okay."

"I want you to be a strong boy for me, 'kay? When I'm gone, that means you're the older brother." Ichigeki stared at his younger brother exactingly.

Ichigo did not disappoint him.

"Because big brothers are born first to take care of the little ones that come after them." Ichigo repeated what had been told to him since Karin and Yuzu had been born.

"Atta boy..." the teen rewarded his brother with a pat on his chest. "You're gonna do great."

"By the time we meet up again, I'm going to be the strongest!" Ichigo vowed with pride in his tiny voice.

"I can't wait." the elder Kurosaki sibling replied.

Little Ichigo took the opportunity to snuggle against the welcoming, strong chest before him. The little ginger-head filled his nostrils with the familiar scent of his brother, and it calmed what little nerves Ichigo had when his thoughts lingered about his brother's departure. Ichigeki's arms were strong around his little brother, and the strength meant comfort and safety to the little boy. The two brothers finally pulled away from each other.

Ichigo watched as his tiny hand held onto the callous and large hands of Ichigeki, and the hands slipped away from him as his brother turned away.

"Bye, Ichi-nii." Ichigo called out softly, watching the retreating figure of brother's back that trailed after Masaki.

Unknown to him, it would be the last time Kurosaki Ichigo ever saw Ichigeki and their mother...

* * *

Masaki decided to spend some quality mother-and-son bonding time with Ichigeki before they would head back home. What had started a nice, bright day ended with a light shower looming over the city that quickly descended into the night, and Ichigeki's mother couldn't help but tell a short story to her son how she and Isshin had met in a time like this.

The story went that Masaki, a high school girl at the time, was minding her own business when she went out for a walk, finding her guardian's house a bit too stuffy for her liking. Along the way, the rain started and it made young Masaki's walk seem gloomy...

And then she heard the distance sound of a fight occurring.

Curious, and a bit worried, Masaki headed straight for the danger ahead, and she was surprised to find a boy and some stranger going at it like super-powered maniacs.

Isshin, apparently, had been some troublesome kid that got into all sorts of fights (doesn't that sound familiar?), and this fight turned out to be really serious. With Masaki's help, the stranger had been apprehended and Masaki went to Isshin's aid—

"And then you both fell in love. The end." Ichigeki interrupted as he sipped his milkshake.

"Rude!" his mother huffed in annoyance.

They both had left a small diner and began their way straight home. Because it was raining, they had been forced to go to the nearest convenient store to buy an umbrella. Unfortunately, there had been only one left, and the color was truly obnoxious. They both bantered back and forth about the part, Masaki sharing embarrassing stories of Ichigeki's earlier years as a toddler.

"I wonder if we still have that photo of you in that sailor suit..." the older woman wondered out loud as she gazed up ahead of her.

"If I ever find it, I'll burn it to a crisp!" the teen threatened, and it only made his mother pout.

"What a dreadful boy I have been forced to raise."

"Whatever..."

_**SPLASH!**_

The teen stood stock still as he was left soaked to the bone when a driver had passed by, splashing him from a flooded puddle that gathered nearby the sidewalk. Quickly gaining his composure, Ichigeki gave an outraged cry at the driver.

"WATCH IT, YOU MORON!"

"Oh, my poor boy..." Masaki cooed as she pulled out a handkerchief from her sweater. "Would you like to switch places with me so you won't get wet?"

"I'm not a little kid, mom." the teen groaned, yet he allowed his mother to wipe away the dirty water dripping down his face.

"I know," she said as she pulled away and looked up to her son, pride brimming from her lovely eyes. "You really are a man now."

Flustered from being acknowledged, Ichigeki offered an arm to his mother. The woman let a huff of laughter escape as she linked arms with her son, and they both ventured into the night to reach home.

It was along the way past the flooded river near the train bridge that Ichigeki stiffened from the familiar feeling of death surrounding him. It was a sort of feeling that had followed him since he could recall his earliest memory, and this feeling was flooding through him like the river beside the road.

In the Kurosaki Clinic, there was a strangeness that other people sensed, but they really couldn't put their fingers on it. Everyone knew there was something a bit more to what meet the eye of the family who lived inside the clinic.

Spirits, ghosts, poltergeists... Ichigeki could see it all.

The ability to see the dead beyond the human eye was something that remained a mystery to the teen to this day. What was even stranger was that only he, Ichigo, and Karin were the only ones that could see them. He had once remembered telling his parents about the guest inside their kitchen when Isshin had asked why Ichigeki had brought out an extra plate to the kitchen table.

It was a lucky thing for Ichigeki to have Masaki and Isshin for parents, because he knew other normal people would have called him crazy and thrown him to the nearest asylum to try and purge him from these ludicrous thoughts of invisible people that only he could see. He didn't talk much about it anymore, and he made sure to advise Ichigo and Karin to not tell everyone of their unique abilities.

There was someone standing near the edge of the road.

Finding a shape at the peripheral of his vision, he saw her.

A little girl stood there, and she was dressed in strange robes. She bore an odd blank look on her youthful face, and her eyes were on the river; it was like she was debating something, and Ichigeki did not like how she stared at the river. Feeling uneasy, the teen stopped and he knew his mother was looking at him with concern.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Wait here." he told her before jumping over the rail of the sidewalk, startling his mother as he went straight towards the girl.

"I-Ichigeki! Come back here!" he heard Masaki call from behind him, but he was focused on the girl in front of him.

The girl began to lean forward towards the river and Ichigeki broke into a sprint. He could hear running footsteps behind him, but he lunged forward with his hand reaching for the falling girl with the intention of pulling her back (and giving the girl the lecture of her lifetime!). The cries of his mother went unheeded, so he did not notice the shadowed giant that towered over him, its eyes glowing red.

The next thing he knew, he felt an unknown force crush him from behind, and the darkness came over his world...

"_ICHIGEKI!_"


	2. unseen

**Scream's Notes: **This is your author speaking! Did you guys like some of the changes made in this reboot? I hope so. So yeah, I decided to cut and then add some new elements, and some spoilers from the recent chapter here and there. The reason for that is because I bet you anything that the kids had to have asked Isshin and Masaki how they met, so this idea popped up. Anyway, I changed the **_third person_** to _**first person point**_ of view because third isn't my think Now, remember to review after reading!

**.**

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_**don't be blind**_

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**.**

Everything hurt.

Like a colossal weight that bounded my body, and there was pressure on my torso. It pulled and wrenched against whatever was forcing it, and the pain only grew more intense. Icy droplets pounded against my form, and I could only recall that the frosty feeling pressuring against my body was called rain.

My body was being jerked around, my numb mind barely registered. I was like a rag doll being tossed back and forth, stomped and hurdled in many directions; up, down, left, right, backwards, forward, it didn't matter where I went, it simply made me move.

I didn't know what was happening, I was too tired and... and I didn't know the difference between the start and the finish when this whole thing came to me. It was just there all of a sudden, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

The weight kept building, and the pressure was nearly grinding me to the bone. I was like the Titan who held the entire world over his shoulders, and I was sorely tempted to let the world fall down on me.

I was being consumed—

_The hunger that festered inside._

_Endless and forever infinite, it went down, down, down..._

_The climb high, and there's no stopping it._

_Devour all until there is—_

* * *

I felt warm, and everything around me felt cozy.

Much better than the crappy mattress dad gave me from that crappy garage sale a neighbor was having. I opened my eyes, my vision swimming and my mouth completely dry. My drowsiness bid me to close my heavy eyelids and return to the land of sleep and comfort. I was prepared to do so, too.

And then a faraway feeling overcame me, forcing me to stay awake, gather my thoughts, and ponder on about what I should be remembering.

_... raining_

_the heavy that pulled down_

_the lingering hunger..._

Lifting myself was a feat near impossible. I was sluggish, parts of my body was numb, half my mind was gone, and I felt drained. The harder I tried, the more difficult it became for me. I flopped down the comforting mattress and scanned the room as best as I could from my weak position; it was a dark room, not as big as my room, but still big. There wasn't anything inside besides the mattress and the blankets covering the whole floor.

Was I in some homeless man's room?

I struggled across the soft covers until I reached the nearest wall, with that, I forced my body up until I was leaning against the flat surface. Utterly tired and weak, my eyes rolled from the dizziness of trying to focus. My eyes caught the sight of a dark door ahead of me, and I gave it my all as I dragged myself towards the exit.

I cringed as vertigo assaulted my vision when my hand weakly climbed to reach for the doorknob, pulling and pushing it until the door gave away. I cringed when bright lights over flooded my field of vision, and I flopped to the ground... which was no longer soft as the blankets and mattress surrounding the room. A massive headache throbbed inside my skull, hammering and bringing me into pain.

The hard floor, a small part of my consciousness noted, was nothing but graveled dirt. I coughed a few times because I inhaled the dust from the ground, saliva dripping from the corner of my mouth to release the moist dirt gathered inside my wet cavern. Shaken, and a bit unsteady, I dragged myself onto the floor while avoiding the bright lights surrounding me.

I had to be somewhere. I didn't know why, but something told me I had to be somewhere at this moment.

Like, I had to met up with someone who was waiting for me.

I gritted my teeth when the underside of my front body grinded against the sharp gravel below. It hurt when the tiny millions of rocks brushed against my vulnerable skin, but I couldn't bother staying in the dark room any more longer. I had to go.

All this work was making my stomach feel nauseous that I felt like I was going to throw up any minute. I honestly hated throwing up, the sickening feeling of choking bile made me pause from my work. I did not want to throw up.

The sound of footsteps reached my suddenly sensitive ears. Tiny gravel crushed under the heals of the walking shoes that were heading straight towards where I lied. I wanted to look up, I wanted to say something, I even wanted to give the approaching person a hug... but I couldn't move, say, or do anything.

_'I... can't move...'_

Everything felt heavy all of a sudden, like there was something invisible making sure I stayed grounded like some huddled turtle.

The person stopped in front of me. Whoever this person was, they were no friends of mine. They didn't run over at the sight of a fallen, most likely injured person, they simply came over with a calm gait... and they were standing there, looking down at me.

"Oh, my," a man's voice vibrated inside the inner drum of my ears. "Even the strongest of spells can never keep you down for long."

Spells? Wait, I stiffened, does that mean—

"You..." my vocal chords sounded weak and unused, like an instrument that hadn't been played for years. "Y-you... _drugged_...me!"

Was it someone from a local gang? Did a group decide to attack me when I least expected it, drug me, and dragged me back to their hide out so they could beat the living shit out of me? It was a highly likely situation, I wouldn't put it past some of those scum to go this far just to get me. I did feel like I had been beaten with an inch of my life.

"You bastard..." I weakly cursed the man.

It was silent for a moment, but then I felt a hand resting on the top of my head. Their fingers dug into the strands of spiky hair, untangling the small clumps of hair. I gave a pathetic growl, but it was ignored and there was nothing I could do about it.

"I'm sorry, kid." the stranger said, with a touch of concern and sadness found in his voice. "I'm truly sorry."

Yeah, he was going to be sorry alright. The second I regained my strength and there was no danger of me falling over from standing on own two feet, I was going to find this guy and beat the crap out of him. Him along with the rest of the people involved in kidnapping, drugging, and getting a kick out of beating my weak body.

And then a familiar darkness overcame me, and I was once again inside the land of deep sleep.

* * *

The second time I woke up, I didn't feel so weak.

Instead of the strange place I had first woke up to, I was inside another room. And it looked like some teenager's room rather than belonging to some homeless guy. The mattress was as good as the last one I came to, but the floor wasn't covered in blankets. The walls were covered with jazz or bohemian posters, and there was even a few that depicted confidence boosters. The only light in the room was a lamp, and it was thankfully dim, so my eyes didn't hurt.

I wasn't home, nor was I dumped in some hospital where I should have woke up to find my family, everyone sitting nearby on their chairs... all of them waiting anxiously for me to wake up and ask where I had been and what those gangsters did to me.

Everything was a blur to me, I couldn't figure out where to begin. The last thing I remember was carrying something heavy, it was raining, and I was really hungry...

Did someone serve me some fucked up drugs to make me do stupid things? I could just imagine how high I was while I wandered around town doing crazy stunts, and those gangsters were filming the entire thing!

"Son of a bitch...!" I growled under my breath as I ripped the blankets off my legs. "When I found out who did this, there is going to be blood!"

Getting up on my feet was a bit of a challenge. I was once again hit with a wave of vertigo and I was tempted to flop back on the bed, but my curiosity and urge to leave spoke up more than my need to lie down. Not one to be easily deterred, I staggered towards the door and forced it open. Like the time before, I was assaulted with very bright lights, but thankfully they weren't as bothersome as last time. I squinted through the cracks of my my squinting eyelids—

And found myself looking at a desert.

I awkwardly stood there, bewildered and plain confused. My eyes slowly grew accustomed to the brightness and it rolled up towards the big, blue sky full of clouds.

_'What the actual fuck?'_

How the hell did my ass end up in a freaking desert? Was I even still in my own continent? What if those bastards threw me on some plane and gave me a one-way ticket to the Gobi Desert? There was nothing here but rocky gorges, gravel, and an endless sky that went as far as the eye could see. I unthinkingly walked into the desert labyrinth, my eyes darting back and forth to find rocks of all shapes and sizes surrounding me.

_'This is freaking insane!'_

Before I could even consider having a mental breakdown, I was startled out of my growing panic from a sound coming from behind me. To my surprise, there was a body lying on the gravely trail.

Lessons instilled in me from having helped my dad around in the clinic with his patients, I held what little sanity and calm I had left in me, and gave my full attention to the fallen person in front of me.

"H-hey! You alright?" I asked the stranger while quickly scanning for any injuries. Nothing looked obvious, just his dirt-covered dress shirt, but that still didn't assure me that he was fine. There could be internal injuries for all I knew.

The guy had short blond hair, a perfect cut that reached to the length of his chin. He was dressed very nicely, a sort of style that was professional but loose enough to not seem business-like. A nice dress shirt, what was once white and clean, brown slacks with a dark belt keeping his shirt tucked in, and dark brown dress shoes. Besides his choice of clothes, I couldn't see his face properly. The stupid, brown cap he was wearing over his head was obscuring him, and I reached an open palm to remove it.

"Wake up, Shinji." I froze at the voice behind me. "Stop messing with the new kid. It's not really funny."

Behind me, standing on top of a nearby boulder, was a woman with long dark hair pulled in a single braid. She wore red, oval-shaped glasses to enhance her jade-colored eyes. What struck me the most about this woman was her dark, navy blue sailor uniform with a white ascot. That woman looked to be at least a couple years my senior, and she was wearing a sailor uniform?

"Are you some sort of lady going through an early midlife crisis?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

There was moment of stunned silence.

"_WHAT_?!" the dark-haired woman bristled, throwing a nasty glare at my direction.

The blond in my arms suddenly busted it out into a fit of giggles and snorts, wheezing as he laughed until he felt like hits guts were about to explode from his stomach. I let him fall from my grip, I was too surprised that he moved at all. And he wasn't the only one who was laughing, either.

"_HAHAHAHA_!" a dark-skinned man with a funky-looking afro and dressed in what looked like something out of Bruce Lee's wardrobe was clutching his stomach. "That's a good one! I should write this down!"

Another man joined the afro fellow. He was, from what I could see, very aristocratic-looking. Long, flowing blond hair that cascaded past his hips, a hawk-like nose with sharp cheeks... He looked like something out of Baroque period. The frilly dress shirt only helped accent his unique appearance. With maroon slacks and expensive looking caramel-colored, pointy boots, that guy was very flamboyant in his looks.

The Baroque man was politely trying to hold in his laugh. Trying really hard.

They both were standing a little ways from behind the fuming woman, and they were quickly silenced when she whipped her head to give them a dark look. Immediately, both men went silent, for their own safety and survival. I got the feeling, however, when I watched them warily, that they were people I didn't want to be cross with.

They were an odd-looking group, but then again, so was I.

"Ha!" the blond—Shinji—I previously thought was injured, stood up and dusted the dirt from his dress shirt. "Honestly, you need to learn how to take a joke, Lisa."

"Shut up! We're not here to make jokes!" the woman named Lisa snapped. "We're here for him!"

Knowing right off the bat that she was talking about me, I tensed and watched the group cautiously. My body was slowly regaining what strength I had lost, but I wasn't sure if I could last in a fight against these four strangers. They weren't like the normal middle and high school students I had come across in my time, and that made them all the more dangerous.

The blond with chin-length hair finally moved his cap properly to the top of his head, and my amber hues made contact with brown-grey eyes. His front pearly whites were displayed openly while the rest of his face revealed... nothing. This guy was about as blank as a piece of paper. He stared at me with his dull eyes and expressionless face.

I had enough.

"Where the hell am I?" I demanded.

"That's very lovely," the woman snorted at me from beside the blank man. "Is that how you start every conversation?"

"Don't screw with me, lady." I snapped at her, not falling for some guilt trip she conjured up to turn me into some obedient brat. I wanted answers. "I'm the one who woke in some strange room and then ended up in the middle of a goddamn desert! So, excuse me if I came on a little too strongly!"

"Huh. He does have a point." the afro dude agreed when he turned to his aristocratic companion.

The woman turned to the other two men, and she was prepared to give them another lecture about agreeing over trivial, petty things when the dull teen in front of me spoke up.

"I guess it would suck if I was in the same position as you. I'd want to have my answers right away... So, I won't hold back on ya."

"Good. Now we're getting somewhere." I waved at the desert surrounding us. "Where am I?"

"Yer in Karakura." Shinji deadpanned.

I blinked up at him. "Are you screwing with me?!"

"This isn't a desert," Shinji continued like I hadn't interrupted him. "This is a dome."

"A dome." I skeptically scoffed at him.

That was crazy. A dome didn't have such a realistic view of the sky, or the sun—

"Wait..." I froze as my eyes looked all over the blue atmosphere. "Where's the sun?"

The dull man's face split into a wide grin where he revealed his whole teeth, and his eyes weren't so dull anymore. His forefinger, a few inches away from his face, pointed towards the sky, but his eyes remained looking at me.

"Doesn't the breeze feel nice?"

And I felt it. The air wasn't dry or humid like most deserted terrain, the coolness was artificial. It was as if it had come directly from an air conditioner. It was the middle of July, the warmest season and so deserts should be brimming with heat! And, if I payed a bit more attention to detail, the clouds overhead weren't moving an inch.

"I, I don't get it." I said as my mind was going numb, eyes still trained on the sky and hoping this was all a joke. "What's going on?"

"Don't worry that pretty little heads of yers." I nearly jumped from the hand that covered my eyes. "All ya need to know is that yer still in Karakura Town. That's good enough to know, ain't it?"

I forced his hand away from me and turned to glare at him, waving at the unmoving sky with no sun, but my voice of concern was drowned out when the four others turned away to walk into the desert.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" I shouted after them.

"We're going to meet up with the rest of your companions," the other man with long, blond hair, answered nonchalantly. "You're very welcome to join us."

I stood there, still a little haywired from all this.

"C'mon, dandelion-kid! Times a'wastin'!" called the dull blond.

"You bastard, don't call me that!" I snapped as I reluctantly followed after the group from a safe distance. I wasn't going to catch any of their crazy, I caught enough of it from my own house thank you very much.

We all walked through the small canyons, weaved through boulders, and made a hike up on a steep hill. This place was state-of-the-art and I grew all the more enthralled at the realistic texture of the whole area. Just who made this? Whoever it was, they obliviously earned themselves a golden medal because this place really had me fooled.

"Pretty neat, huh?" the afro remarked from beside me. "I remember the first time I came in here. I thought I stepped into another part of the world."

"Who built this place?" I asked out of curiosity.

"A friendly businessman who owns a candy shop."

I blinked at the afro dude. "What?"

Instead of an answer, the afro in the shades waved to the incoming wide space area that revealed to be a sort of lounging area. The couches, tables, and television box looked really out of the place inside the desert dome, but I thought better to keep the petty stuff to myself.

"Who the hell is this?"

A short-statured blond girl with pig-tails and freckles littering her face stood in front of me. Her brown eyes narrowed and her mouth shaped into a snarl where a single fang peeked past her lips. She was dressed in a simple white T-shirt and running shorts, and she was still looking at me with total distaste. With that, I gave the girl an angry glare of my own, silently sending a message for her to piss off. The action caused the girl to stretch her frown and squint her eyes further.

"Don't worry about it." Shinji told the tiny girl as he walked past her. "Go back to catching flies with your gawking mouth."

_**SLAP!**_

Shinji's face met face-first with a flying sandal that the little freckled girl threw at the lanky blond boy for the uncalled insult. Personally, I thought the girl's action was justified.

"Oww...!"

"You asshole!" the girl snarled at the bleeding blond on the floor.

"Hey, where's everyone else?" the lovechild of Fabio and Mozart asked as he looked around the deserted lounge.

"Where do you think, Rose?" the freckled girl known as Hiyori snapped at the long-haired blond. "It's dinner time!"

"Aw crap!" afro dude cursed before running off to the direction where dinner would be. "They better not eat my Teriyaki!"

"Hey, save for me too, Love!" the other blond oddly named Rose went after the also oddly named afro dude known as Love.

I was left standing there awkwardly like some an abandoned object left over and completely forgotten by its owners.

"Are you hungry?" Lisa asked, and I was brought out of my stupor.

"Uh," I shook my head. "No, not really."

"Oh, good." she said. "We really don't need another mouth to feed."

I felt my left eye twitch in annoyance. For a second, I contemplated on spiting the woman by changing my mind and asking for a free meal, but I saw a quirk at the corner of her lips and her jade eyes gleaming with mischief.

"So how many guys are there?" I asked her.

"Why don't you ask everyone yourself?" she said as she nodded towards behind me.

Scrunching my face in confusion, I was about to look over my shoulder when I was suddenly lifted up from the ground and found myself in the air. Jolted, I instinctively began to wildly kick my legs and struggled against the grip that wrapped itself around my torso.

"What the hell?! LET ME G—"

Whatever words (or curses) I had were abruptly put on hold, because I was staring straight at a giant man.

No. Giant was too much of an nice word. Besides, there was giants all over the world, but this person was unique all on his own.

He was a fucking colossal being of a giant! He had a wide, rotund build, this giant. He wore a deep royal purple three-piece suit, black dress shoes, and a vermillion bow tie. His hair was hideously pink with black crossbones at the top of his scalp, and a pink mustache to match.

"You're huge." was the first thing that came out after the long, silent stare.

"Hm. I am." the big man agreed.

"Like, something from Ripley's Believe it or Not, huge." I continued to say.

"I know." he hummed.

"... You're almost elephant huge."

"Hmmm."

Very vaguely I heard some snickers and not-so-quiet laughter from behind me, but I was too caught up with the giant in front of me to do anything about it. My mind was going over and over the genetic impossibility of why someone like this guy shouldn't exist but was standing in front of me anyway. I struggled trying to think back in my science classes back in high school...

"I think Hachi broke him."

"Hachi!" someone snapped at the thoughtful-looking giant. "Let 'im loose!"

With that, I was promptly dropped back on the good earth. I let out a yelp from the fall and groaned from the hard landing. It wasn't long that my personal bubble was immediately assaulted by another bizarre person residing in the dome.

A girl with lime green hair and wearing a blue sentai suit was all up in my face, and I quickly crab-walked backwards to get away from the close proximity. She, of course, followed me with glittering gray orbs.

"Ooohh~! You're hair is sooo~ pretty~!" she giggled childishly as her gloved hands reached for my hair.

"Hey!" I protested as I wiped at the air where her hand was. "Don't do that!"

"Aww!" she whined. "Berry-tan is a big, fat meanie~!"

"That's 'cuz you're being totally weird!" I shot back, and that only seemed to make things worse.

Next thing I know, I'm watching her roll around on the gravel, whining and waving her arms like a little child having a tantrum. She was spouting things like "you're a meanie!" and "you're stupid!". I wisely chose to ignore her in favor of focusing how to keep up with the craziness.

"Shut up, Mashiro!" another new voice reached my ears.

_'Jesus. How many people are there?'_ I thought with a low groan.

A shadow fell over my fallen figure and I looked up to see a silver-haired guy. He had an almost bulky figure, fit to be fast but strong enough to put up a good fight.

He was dressed in a black tank top, blue camouflage cargo pants, and black combat boots. The guy looked like he could fit into the crowd of some street gang, and he looked like one tough opponent if I ever faced him out in the streets. His small, topaz-colored eyes were locked on me; he was sizing me up.

I felt defensive and shot the man a glare. I didn't like when people looked at me like that, everyone wanting to fight because of my stupid hair color. Those days were bad, and it only grew worse when I got older, but I endured through it all. So, while I had half a mind to punch the silver-haired dude's lights out, I only scoffed and turned away from him. Besides, my parents told me to keep my temper in and not to get into meaningless fights.

"Only fight to defend yourself or others." that was dad's rule, and I had stuck with that rule for years.

I stood up from the dirt and dusted away the gravel that clung to my jeans. As interesting as this place was, I couldn't say much about the people hanging around. While half of them were alright to deal with, the others were just plain weird.

"So, new guy," I heard Shinji's voice and found him lounging on a chair. "What's yer story?"

"Ah?" I scrunched my face in confusion.

"Tch! His brain is still broken from Hachi." the Hiyori girl chortled from near the table where she was joined by Lisa and Rose.

I shot the girl another glare before turning back to the dull-faced Shinji. So far as I counted, like Lisa suggested, there was eight of them. Eight strangers who were inside the strange desert dome I woke up into.

"Still with us, new guy?" Shinji asked.

"Uh, yeah, but... Why am I here?" I looked at him expectantly. "And just who are you people?"

"What?" he shrugged. "Can't good ol' Samaritans help out a person in need?"

"Not in my experience. There's always a catch." I said before furrowing my brows. "And what do you mean help out a person in need? What the hell do I need help in?"

Everyone just looked at me like I was freak-show in the room. I was getting a little tired of being let out of the loop of whatever was going on between these guys, but I thought better to give the guys a leeway chance to explain themselves. I couldn't recklessly rush in, no matter how tempting the idea was.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Lisa asked as she stood up from her seat and walked towards me. "What's the date?"

I stared at her with utmost confusion and my head was buzzing all of a sudden. Seeing that she was a relentless sort that would get her answers in any means necessary, I started trying to think what I remembered last.

"... It's July... right?" I made a guess.

What was wrong with me anyway? Confused and a bit worried, I felt around my head for any bumps or open gashes that slowly bleed with my brain matter flowing out.

"You don't have a concussion, kid." Love supplied when he noticed my search around my cranium.

"Did those bastard gangsters drug me up with ruffies or something?!" I said aloud with panic, and my eyes squared on the silver-headed punk in the whole group.

Seeing me accusing look, the guy went on the defensive.

"The hell you lookin' at me for?! I didn't do it!" he shouted at me. "And besides, you haven't been drugged either, you jackass!"

Sorry mom and dad, but there are time the rage in me called for out blood too strongly for me to restrain.

"What did you say, you asshole?" I hissed at him with a threatening step towards his direction.

He himself took a step forward. "You heard me, you bag of dicks!"

"I'm gonna murder you, you bird crap-haired bastard!"

We lunged at each other, but our attacks were forced to a halt when the giant standing behind the silver-haired man prevented him from taking a swipe at me while Rose and Love apprehended me.

"Oh dear," Shinji said with his bored voice as he watched from the sidelines, his cap waving towards his face as if to get more cooler air. "We got another hot-head here."


End file.
